How to Use Psychology to Achieve Your Financial Goals

Up until about 30 years ago, economists assumed that humans were perfectly rational in their decision making. Subsequent research has proven that we are anything but rational with respect to financial decisions. This short story explains how you can use psychology to help achieve your personal financial goals.

Dale C. Maley is the author of the 19999 book Index Mutual Funds: How to Simplify Your Financial Life and Beat the Pros.

He is also a contributing author to Chapter 18 Seeking Help from Professionals in the 2009 book The Bogleheads Guide to Retirement Planning.

He is a very successful private investor who has been a student of Financial Planning and Investing for over 30 years. He was trained as an engineer at the University of Illinois and has been a practicing engineer for 32 years. His accomplishments as an engineer include the granting of 16 U.S. Patents and authorship of over 500 professional technical papers. He is also a member of the International Society of Automotive Engineers and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

He also has earned an MBA (Masters Degree in Business Administration) degree from Illinois State University. His background in mathematics, engineering, and business provides him with the excellent basis for understanding and teaching investments and financial planning.

He is also a very successful investor who has been investing in common stocks and mutual funds since 1980. He has also personally invested in both 401(K) and IRA plans, so he is familiar with participation and management of these types of investments. He has been investing in indexed common stock mutual funds since 1990.

Dale became a Registered Financial Advisor in the State of Illinois in 2006 and is currently launching his business as a fee-only financial planner. He is President of Maley Financial Planning LLC.